Rejoice, for the Lord is near!
This is the call of the Church as we prepare to celebrate the birthday of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In the hustle and bustle of your preparations, there are beautiful devotions you can do with your family. Check out My Catholic Life.
Our present system of organizing the liturgical cycle begins with Advent. This is perfectly logical as everything in the Church begins with the coming of Christ.
(Reference: Catholic News Agency)
What is Advent?
The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior, whom God had promised, over and over, would come to them to set them free from captivity, and to lead them to the fulfillment of all that God had chosen for them.
Israel longed for a Messiah, and John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming, and could be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting, and longing, for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord more deeply into our lives, and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.
Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world. Preparations are practical, like decorating a tree or stringing lights, but they’re also intended to be spiritual.
During Advent, we’re invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church, all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah…by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”
What does the word Advent mean?
Advent comes from the Latin ad+venire, which means, essentially “To come to,” or “to come toward.” Ad+venire is the root of the Latin “Adventus” which means “arrival.”
So Advent is the season of arrival: The arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.
How long is Advent?
Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date, and could fall on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day, or as long as four weeks.
The Great O Antiphons ~ A Preparation for Christmas
December 17 marks the beginning of the “O” Antiphons, an ancient part of our liturgy dating back to the fourth century, one for each day until Christmas Eve. These antiphons address Christ with seven magnificent Messianic titles, based on the Old Testament prophecies and types of Christ.
They help deepen our Advent preparation and hopeful expectation as we draw closer, day by day, to the celebration Christ’s birth among us. Each one expresses a deep longing for the coming of the Messiah.
The O Antiphons can be found in the Liturgy of the Hours and are usually sung. We hear these same antiphons sung beautifully in the Advent hymn, O Come, O Come, Emanuel.
Take a few moments for quiet prayer during this final week of Advent to pray and reflect on the seven O Antiphons. Read and meditate on the biblical passages that accompany each antiphon. Listen to each antiphon sung to an ancient Gregorian chant. Pray Mary’s Magnificat each day.
O Sapientia (O Wisdom) See Isaiah 11:2–3; 28:29.
O Adonai (O Lord) See Isaiah 11:4–5; 33:22.
O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse) See Isaiah 1:1; 11:10.
O Clavis David (O Key of David) See Isaiah 9:6; 22:22.
O Oriens (O Rising Sun) See Isaiah 9:1.
O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations) See Isaiah 9:5; 2:4.
O Emmanuel (God with us) See Isaiah 7:14.